Opposition slams NBN exclusion of Chinese giant

Mar 27, 2012

The coalition says the federal government's decision to ban Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from taking part in tenders for work on the national broadband network (NBN) is ''clumsy, offensive and unprofessional''.

Huawei Technologies, which is close to becoming the world's largest telecommunications equipment provider, was advised late last year that it could not tender for NBN contracts because of security concerns about cyber attacks emanating from China.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in Seoul, where she is attending nuclear security talks, the NBN is a crucial national infrastructure project.

''You would expect, as a government, we would make all of the prudent decisions to make sure that infrastructure project does what we want it to do, and we've taken one of those decisions,'' she said, when asked about the Huawei decision.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Nicola Roxon told AAP today the $36 billion NBN project was the ''backbone of Australia's information infrastructure'' and as such the government had a responsibility ''to do our utmost to protect its integrity and that of the information carried on it''.

''This is consistent with the government's practice for ensuring the security and resilience of Australia's critical infrastructure more broadly,'' the spokesman said.

Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb, who last year toured Huawei's facilities in mainland China and Hong Kong on a trip sponsored by the company, said decisions such as this would reinforce the increasingly ''dim view'' overseas investors had of Australia.

''Over the last four years the Rudd-Gillard governments have damaged our relations with China, India, Japan and Indonesia at a time when the middle class across that region is exploding,'' Mr Robb told AAP.

''This looks to be the latest clumsy, offensive and unprofessional instalment of a truly dysfunctional government.''

He said the fact that former foreign minister Alexander Downer and former Victorian premier John Brumby were on Huawei's Australian board, and that the company had a leading role in Britain's telecommunications sector, warranted the government considering it with ''clear eyes''.

''We must bear in mind that this is a company which is heavily involved in eight of nine NBN roll-outs around the world,'' Mr Robb said.

Ms Bishop declined to comment on the tender process, which she described as ''a matter for the government'', and said she had not been lobbied in regard to the NBN or any other matter.

''My trip included a tour of Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, where I was shown some of the technology under development by its research and development division that comprises about half of Huawei's 120,000 staff,'' she told AAP.

A Huawei Australia spokesman told AAP it had issued an open invitation to all MPs, and the media, to tour its facilities.

''We haven't targeted one party over another,'' the spokesman said.

However, former NSW Labor premier Kristina Keneally rejected a statement by a Huawei spokesman earlier today that she travelled on a company sponsored trip to the firm's China facilities.

''This is incorrect,'' she said in a statement.''I have never undertaken any travel paid for by Huawei.''

When told of Ms Keneally's statement, the spokesman said there had been a miscommunication.

Huawei spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said Australia was still getting used to privately owned Chinese companies, but Huawei would not give up on tendering for NBN projects, which are being managed by the Australian government-owned NBN Co Ltd.

''We're not used to companies coming from China that are leading in technology and also global - 70 per cent of our work is outside of China,'' Mr Mitchell said.

''This is new territory.

''We see this as a setback. We're obviously disappointed. But through looking at what we've done overseas, looking at what we've done in the United Kingdom, we can put in place measures that help the Australian government consider us as a partner in the NBN.''

Huawei was established in the late 1980s by Ren Zhengfei, a former major in the People's Liberation Army, and is headquartered in the special economic zone of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.Its Australian office opened in 2004 in Sydney and is the operations hub for its business across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.NBN Co declined to comment.